About Me

This page tells about me, your illustrious blog writer! Most of you know a lot of this stuff, but for the 2 or 3 others that stumble upon this blog (whether total strangers or long lost friends), you might learn something interesting about me!

Four Jobs I Have Had:

1. Asst. Mgr. at TCBY Yogurt: I “worked my way up the ranks” all the way to asst. mgr.  Wow.  I got completely sick of frozen yogurt.  The only bright spot was we sometimes traded yogurt for pizza with the Little Caesar’s next door.
2. Deli/Bakery at Kash-n-Karry Supermarket: This was a summer job in college – they wanted to promote me to “donut fryer” but I didn’t want to have to get up at 4:00am to do that for a measly 10-cent raise.  Plus, I didn’t see it as a career opportunity.
3. Temp at a rubber company (whose name I can’t remember now) that made surgical equipment.  This is where my brother and I worked together for one summer.  We did all sorts of things no one else wanted to do for barely above minimum wage (I think we made a whopping $3.35/hour!).
4. Student assistant in the Math Dept. at Stetson University:  I had to do SOMETHING for work-study, and this was definitely better than working in the cafeteria!

Four REAL Jobs I Have Had:

1. Acquisitions Coordinator, Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) Library:  This is the first real job I had after graduating from college.
2. Training Specialist, IWU University Information Technology (UIT) Dept.:  Got this job after a couple years of working in the library.
3. Director of User Services, IWU UIT Dept.:  I eventually worked my way up to managing all the computer hardware/software support for the entire IWU campus.
4. Information Systems Administrator, North Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church:  This is my current job.  I am a one-man IT shop, which means I do a little bit of everything (if it involves a computer, I do it!).

Four Places I Have Lived:

1. Penn Hills, PA (suburb of Pittsburgh) – this is why I’m blessed to be a Steelers fan, and cursed to be a Pirates fan.
2. Seminole, FL (Tampa Bay Area) – the reason why I’m also a Buccaneers fan.
3. Marion, IN
4. OK, I’ve only lived in 3 places so far…

Four Movies I Would Watch Over and Over:

1. Monty Python & The Holy Grail
2. Christmas Vacation
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. A Christmas Story (“You’ll shoot your eye out!”)

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation:

1. Colorado (1996):  Renee and I drove out there and visited Antonito (home of the Cumbres & Toltec narrow gauge railroad), Durango, Silverton, Mesa Verde National Park, and many points in between.  We had our GMC Jimmy then, and we took it off-roading to see the Animas Forks ghost town between Silverton and Ouray, CO.  At one point, I remember thinking that maybe we shouldn’t have taken a $30,000 vehicle off-roading and rented a Jeep instead.  But, we made it.
2. London; Paris; Scotland (1988): This was a graduation gift from our parents.  I graduated from Northside Christian High School and my brother/sister-in-law graduated from Marion College (now Indiana Wesleyan University) in 1988.
3. Vienna, Austria; Germany (1987):  OK, this wasn’t technically a family vacation.  My marching band from high school got invited to an international band competition in Vienna and we spent 2 years fundraising so we could make the trip.  Mom & Dad came along with the parent satellite group.  They got to go to Hungary (when it was still Eastern Block) as well.
4. Alaska (2003):  Renee and I went on an Alaskan cruise (without Collin) to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:

1. Whose Line Is It Anyway?
2. House
3. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
4. CSI

Four Things I Love to Eat:

1. My mom’s lasagna (no one else makes it like her)
2. Corky’s Barbecue
3. Maple Butter Blondie from Applebee’s
4. A good prime rib

Four Vehicles I Have Driven:

1. A 1979 Mercury Capri – we bought this from the guy who almost drove off the Sunshine Skyway bridge when the Summit Venture hit it in 1980 (not the same car; but the same guy, Richard Hornbuckle - see the pic at the link).  I drove this in HS and beginning of college.
2. A 1988 Ford Mustang – this one had a custom paint job, and was the only 5-speed stick I ever drove.  Had this one all through college and into marriage.
3. A 1994 Mercury Cougar – we splurged and bought this car new when Renee passed her state nursing boards.
4. A 2003 Jeep Liberty – this one I drove before the dreaded “practicality” demon struck, and we traded it in for a Dodge Grand Caravan so we would have more room for the kids.  It was fun to drive.  I’ll miss it.

Four Places I’d Like to Visit Before I Die:

1. Australia/New Zealand
2. The Great Pyramids of Egypt
3. St. Petersburg, Russia
4. Hawaii – actually all 50 states.  I have yet to set foot in: Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts (just went there this April), or Hawaii.  And there are 3 other states that I’ve “technically” been to (or through), but would like to see more of.  Those include Minnesota (we landed there on our way to Alaska in 2003; I’ve only seen the airport in the Twin Cities), Washington (we drove to the Seattle-Tacoma Intl. Airport to fly back from Alaska in 2003), and Montana (we drove through exactly 10 miles of Montana on our way out of Yellowstone National Park in 1985).

Four Web Sites I Visit Daily:

1. espn.com
2. National Weather Service Northern Indiana (www.weather.gov/iwx/)
3. Matt’s blog
4. depending on the season: either mlb.com, nfl.com, or nba.com

Four (OK, 6) Musical Groups on my iPod:

1. U2
2. Delirious?
3. Coldplay
4. Switchfoot
5. The Fray
6. Maroon 5

(and MUCH more…. I couldn’t narrow it down to just 4!)

Four Things I Do With All My Spare Time (yeah, right!):

1. Coach Collin’s baseball team
2. Play church league softball
3. Help with Collin’s Cub Scout Pack
4. Play our Wii